ROGUE councillor Greg Stone was at the centre of yet another row today.

Opposition Labour councillors in Newcastle are furious the outspoken Liberal Democrat will not be asked to explain his latest antics after council officers blocked plans for a full debate.

Coun Stone was exposed for using an online blog to make rude and offensive comments about MPs during Prime Ministers Questions.

The councillor was left red-faced after his inappropriate comments were exposed, and Lib Dem boss Nick Clegg intervened to force an apology.

But since then Labour and Conservative party members have formed an alliance to keep the pressure on him.

Things got worse for the councillor last week when council leader John Shipley condemned him in a response to a challenge from a local Tory.

Labour councillors are leading the attempts to keep an eye on Coun Stone, who is the leading challenger for Newcastle East and Wallsend MP Nick Brown’s seat in the next General Election.

As part of that battle comments made by Mr Stone over the course of a year on an online chat room were leaked.

They showed him writing under a pseudonym and criticising Foreign Secretary David Miliband, wondering “how much botox is Hazel Blears on?” and saying another MP looked drunk.

He also branded Gateshead East and Washington West MP Sharon Hodgson “the thickest MP in the House” and hoped rival Mr Brown “might not be around after the GE (General Election)”.

But despite plans to have a council motion passed condemning his behaviour Coun Stone appears to have escaped further punishment.

Byker Coun Nick Kemp has been told by officers “there is already an established procedure for dealing with such matters” and it would be inappropriate for the full council to discuss Coun Stone’s behaviour.

Coun Kemp said: “I think councillors on all sides would want to stand up and condemn this behaviour, because it does politics no good.

“We need to get on the public record the reasons why the council does not in anyway condone this rot of behaviour.

“While I fully understand the reasons why this has not been allowed there should still be a chance for councillors to show in a clear, easy and transparent way their views on the subject.”

Mr Kemp will know such a motion against Mr Stone would also force the Lib Dem majority on the council to distance themselves from the councillor.

Ian Poll, the council’s head of Democrat Services told the Labour group: “If Nick or anyone else thought Greg’s behaviour had been inappropriate, then they could complain to the Monitoring Officer under the local protocol and he would then have to follow the procedure set by Standards Committee.”

Coun Stone has previously apologised for his comments.

It is not the first time Mr Stone has found himself the centre of attention.

Last year he was accused of breaking council rules by profiling the likely voting patterns of a planning committee members.

Documents emerged which appeared to show Mr Stone had helped a private company assess the actions of the council’s planning team.

The former executive member for development and regeneration claimed he had not directly contributed to the document but may have done so informally, through inevitable “banter” or gossip in the office or pub.

And he has previously fallen foul of strict council standards when he breached national and local codes of conduct by using his council email for political purposes.